I had the privilege of speaking with Yona Zeldis McDonough, Lilith Magazine’s fiction contest judge, after my story, “Chosen,” was awarded third place for 2017.
www.lilith.org/articles/chosen
1) How did you first get involved with Lilith?
I had a short story accepted for publication many years ago. After that, I began to write regularly for the magazine, both essays and reported pieces.
2) What are your duties as Fiction Editor (and any other role you play there)?
I read all submissions and select fiction for all issues, and then I work with authors through the edits and any revisions that we’ve requested. Once a year, I handle the fiction contest, which involves getting word out, reading the submissions and selecting the finalists. I also do some fiction outreach, speaking at events about the magazine’s fiction program and soliciting fiction from writers we’ve targeted.
3) When did you judge your first contest?
I don’t even remember! About ten or eleven years, give or take.
4) What is one piece of advice you can offer to writers submitting work, to Lilith’s contest or elsewhere?
Read the magazine cover to cover, and study the fiction. We get many submissions from people who’ve clearly never read the magazine. They don’t understand our audience or our aims. For instance, we almost never publish stories from a male point of view, and reading back issues (available on line) would make that very clear. Also, read the submission guidelines. We are also very strict about our word count—3000 or under—and so when I get a story that is 5000 words, I really can’t consider it.
5) What else do you do as part of your writing life?
I write for Lilith and for our blog on a regular basis and I’m a working novelist—I’ve had seven novels published, and an eighth will be coming out from HarperCollins next years. I also write for children—27 books, both fiction and non—and I like to be working on a novel and a kids’ book at the same time. I find it a good balance.
6) What is your favorite part of judging the contest? Least favorite?
I love receiving and reading the submissions. Each one is a little gift, and I hope each entry will be “the one.” And I love making calls to the winning authors—that never gets old. What I like least? Having to say no to so many people; I hate to be the bearer of bad tidings.
7) Have any contest winners gone on to have successful writing careers?
Many of the writers we’ve published have gone on to book contracts and critical acclaim. A few that come to mind are Cherise Wolas, Amy Koppelman, Rachel Hall, Ilana-Stanger Ross, Amy Gottlieb, Jane Lazarre, Rachel Kadish, and Dara Horn.
8) Lilith’s tag line is “Independent, Jewish, and Frankly Feminist.” Can you talk a bit about what this means?
At Lilith, we think for ourselves and never accept the party line about anything; on the contrary, we are always probing, always questioning. Jewish themes are always front and center with us, and we are bred-in-the-bone feminists–we aim to advance a feminist agenda in everything we publish.
9) Anything else you’d like to add?
Being Lilith’s Fiction Editor is a dream job and I feel so lucky to have it! I get to read, consider, and publish marvelous stories that continue to surprise and humble me.